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Postpollination Mechanisms Influencing Mating Patterns And Fecundity: An Example From Eichhornia Paniculata, Mitchell B. Cruzan

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Plant mating systems are influenced by the amount and genetic composition of pollen grains deposited on stigmas and by the ability of recipients to discriminate among pollen from different sources. We describe an experimental procedure that uses limiting and excess pollinations with mixtures of genetically marked pollen to partition the siring success of donors into three components: prefertilization gamete attrition (failure of male gametophytes before fertilization), pollen competitive ability (differences in pollen tube growth rate), and postfertilization gamete attrition (embryo abortion). Regression models for the relationships of pollen load size with each pollen's siring success and total recipient fecundity indicate …